The Hebrew Bible is a masterpiece of diverse voices held together in one meta-narrative. Unfortunately, that narrative unity is often undermined by evangelical devotional-style reading and sensus plenior gone wild. Stephen G. Dempster wrote Dominion and Dynasty to bring out the spectacular unity of God’s story.

This book is subtitled, A Theology of the Hebrew Bible, but its focus is squarely on humanity. Dempster argues that the whole Hebrew Bible can be summed up as a story where humans are given dominion to rule over creation, which ultimately climaxes in the Davidic dynasty. The story is radically interrupted by exile at the end of Kings. At this point, the Later Prophets and Writings provide commentary on the meta-narrative. After this commentary, the story is picked up again Daniel, Esther, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles.

Dempster takes a canonical and literary approach to scripture. His canonical approach allows him to evade historical-critical issues in order to read the Hebrew Bible in its final redaction. This approach, famously pioneered by Brevard Childs and revised by Walter Brueggemann, is a fruitful way to read the Old Testament. Not only does it free the theologian from the morass of twentieth century historical criticism, it provides a legitimate base from which to draw further connections within the canon. Essentially, it hears the final redaction of scripture as a definitive theological voice.

A literary approach to the Bible goes hand-in-hand with canonical criticism. Dempster uses the tools of literary criticism to explore what the writers and editors of scripture communicated.

Unfortunately, Dempster’s treatment of the Hebrew Bible is uneven. In prioritizing the Torah and Former Prophets over the Later Prophets and Writings, he essentially builds his theological vision on only half of scripture. His brief treatment of the Psalms straight-jackets the book into his Davidic vision. To illustrate this, while Dempster spends almost forty pages on Genesis, the book of Proverbs receives a meager paragraph.

In the end, Dempster’s vision elevates a legitimate perspective on the Hebrew Bible (Dominion and Dynasty) to a place of hermeneutic prominence which isn’t warranted. Dempster highlights fascinating canonical insights from this theme, while burying other legitimate voices.

Dempster, Stephen G. Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible. InterVarsity, 2003. New Studies in Biblical Theology 15.